Just Wondering

Why — when health-care costs so burden small and large businesses — is not all the force of corporate lobbying power of every industry marshaled to enact a national health care plan? Wouldn’t GM be better off without having to negotiate health plans? IBM? And certainly the small businesses that the U. S. President always claims to support would benefit tremendously — as would almost everyone.

“Wisconsin’s tax-supported health care program for the working poor spends millions of dollars each year covering the health costs of employees of some of the state’s largest companies, such as Wal-Mart and Aurora Health Care….”

Health care giant Aurora has 187 employees and 134 of their dependents in BadgerCare, at a total projected cost of more than $701,000 annually. Aurora’s totals represent less than 1% of the health care company’s 25,000 workers in Wisconsin.

The tax code has evolved specifically to induce companies to provide health insurance for their employees by making it a tax advantaged way to spend on labor.

The very fact that most health insurance is paid for by employers is rather artificial, and that extra level of remove between patients/workers and health care expenses is one large component behind the rise in prices. Insureds have little to no incentive to minimize their personal health spendings, and thus eveyone’s costs go up. Getting rid of tax incentives for health care expenditures would exert considerable force in the opposite direction.

I don’t understand at all why you would think that nationalization would reduce costs. Do you tend to spend less on something when you don’t have to pay for it directly? Do you eat less when you go to a buffet?

Have you been following any of the work of United Power for Action & Justice in Cook County with regard to health care? You will soon be able to check out their website; in the meantime, however, some of their history and actions are recorded here.